End of an Era?

On Sunday we exclusively reported that Tradologic, a major provider of binary options trading technology, is shifting its focus to fintech. Sources with knowledge of the matter shared with Finance Magnates that the company will be phasing out its binary options product.

Later in the week we saw an example of why a company might want to disassociate itself from the segment. A binary options brokerage owner was arrested for alleged fraud and extortion after a Singaporean client complained that she lost over $500,000.

XTB: Chile and Belize In, Turkey Out

On Monday it was revealed that in Q1 2017 XTB focused on the development of its operations in Latin America. A new subsidiary was founded in Chile and a company in Belize was acquired.

Later in the week it was announced that XTB is exiting the Turkish market, and will be withdrawing its registration with the CMB. The decision to shut down its Turkish subsidiary will affect the broker’s current financial situation.

GAIN Affiliates

On Wednesday GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCAP), the largest provider of retail FX in the US, unveiled a new multi-brand affiliate marketing program called GAIN Affiliates.

The new program introduces select customers to its global collection of retail trading brands. GAIN Affiliates expands the group’s efforts to work with and target a much broader audience of affiliate partners.

AvaTrade Expands Crypto Portfolio

The choice of these specific blockchain tokens is not very surprising considering the incredible returns they generated in 2017 which must have brought a lot of interest, and pressure on the broker from its clients to add them.

One of the primary impetuses in the increase of volumes over the past year has been attributed to a series of episodic events, helping drive up volatility. This includes the Brexit referendum in the UK and the divisive US presidential election, among other events.